Turning Absence into Action
Like countless numbers of children, I grew up in a single parent household. My mother worked effortlessly to provide me with a childhood full of sports, arts and faith. As a young boy I did not realize I was being raised by just my mother. Statistics on single parent households make you believe that I should have grown up in poverty, ended up in prison, felt lonely or participated in destructive behavior. Thankfully that was not my situation. When I turned four I was introduced to baseball, the sport I now love. Being on the field opened my eyes to the fact that my father was not present. Every volunteer coach was a dad. "Good job son” or "That’s my boy" would be yelled from the dugout to my teammates but never told to me personally. At that time I decided to turn the absence of a father into action and strive to be successful and help others.
My family’s strong faith has played an enormous part in this mentality. We are all extremely involved in volunteering. My mother volunteers as a children’s teacher, my grandmother is in the choir and my eighty two year old great-grandmother is a greeter. Our pastor often delivers the words “You are a
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An amazing example of this is my youth pastor, Jamal Wright. His passion for God, youth, success and life inspires me. He also grew up with only his mother. Through his example I am encouraged to create my own path, instead of growing up to follow in the steps of a father. A path that leads me to my passions and helps me open doors not only for myself, but those around me.
A very cliché quote you hear often is “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. In my life absence has taught me that no one is going to hand me my dreams or give me a dream to follow. It is my responsibility to capture these dreams myself and take